Hanebrink Hustler; 80-MPH Ebike

Dan Hanebrink has been building high powered electric bikes in his workshop high in the mountains of Southern California for many years. He is most known for his Electric fat bike (read review), which has massive 8 inch wide tires and is capable of riding on all terrains including sand, snow, and street. He also helped with the development and design of the Picycle (read review).

In our review of his fat bike, we thought it had some impressive innovation (mid drive hub motor with double freewheel) but was a little rough around the edges for its high price. All of its components and wiring are exposed and it is not slick looking. We also wish it had more power, rather than its mild 36-volt system. However, this bike was exceptionally well built, had great power for only being 36 volts, was a great hill climber, and performed at its power level almost flawlessly. It was one of my personal favorites of all the ebikes I have test ridden.

Dan Hanebrink has been busy in his workshop and has made a brand new product based on a full suspension version of his fat bike. The end result is an incredibly slick street rod with rice-rocket motorcycle style fairings. It breaks the 20-MPH speed barrier on ebikes with a sledghammer (capable of speeds up to 80-MPH!) , but only if the user decides to change the factory settings.

In legal mode the beast becomes like a pussy cat with a long range thanks to its mammoth battery pack. By giving his ebike the capacity to do break-neck speeds, Hanebrink has stepped into an elite group of ebike builders, who are willing to build such fun (and potentially dangerous) machines and offer them to the public. Hats off to Hanebrink for making this bold and admirable step. If ebikes are every going to have mass appeal in the United States, they have to go faster than 20-MPH.

Here is a pic of Dan Hanebrink racing his new Hustler on the racetrack against other electric and gas powered bikes at a go kart track in Southern California (see story on ebike racing).

The Hanebrink Hustler uses the same basic drive system as the Hanebrink Fatbike (read our review). This is an innovative and effective system. A waterproof, and dirt-proof hub motor is used in the middle of the frame. (read on the benefits of a mid drive). A custom-machined double freewheel attached to the hub motor works really well in providing a bicycle plus ebike experience.

The Hanebrink Hustler swaps out the hub motor you see here with a Crystalyte 5304, the same powerhouse that is used on the Stealth Bomber. With a 100-amp controller running 82-volts, the motor is putting out over 8000 watts of power, and all that power goes through a derailleur 8 speed gear system, making the Hustler ultra efficient on flat ground or when hill climbing. By using this set up you get the reliability and silence of a hub motor and the efficiency and balance of a mid drive.

The aim of the bike is to be a very capable street electric 2-wheeler, able to keep up with (and ahead of) normal car traffic on city streets and highways. Massive battery capacity, and advanced electronics allow the rider to select power modes for any jurisdiction or situation. (this is already being done by competitors Stealth and Optibike with selectable settings for: Legal, or off-road/Competition). The bike has operable pedals, and can be pedaled, with the belly pan of the fairing removed.

Pedaling does, however, reduce the range and speed (efficiency) of the bike (In a pedaling position, the increased aero drag will more than cancel out the benefit of pedaling).

The aero design of the bodywork greatly benefits the bikes speed, range, safety, and comfort, and also provides convenient compartments to carry needed items. The benefit of a legal electric bicycle is, of course, that it does not require registration, drivers license, or special motorcycle permit, etc. and can be operated where motorcycles are not permitted (National Forest, BLM land, etc).

The owner can license it as a motorcycle, if desired, and benefit from applicable tax rebates. Of course, there are some states where this Ebike could only be registered as an electric motorcycle, in spite of its working pedals.

Eric has been involved in the electric bike industry since 2002 when he started a 6000 square foot brick and mortar Electric Bike store in downtown San Francisco. He is a true believer that small electric vehicles can change the way we operate and the way we think.

8 Comments

( October 27, 2012 )

I really like where this bike is positioned, right at the edge of motorcycling. My only reservation about this particular bike is that I like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and this is a bit of the opposite. I understand the aero benefits of the full fairing but I would love this bike so much more if it looked at a glance like a common downhill bicycle. Owning this bike promises getting hassled by real sport motorcycles and the law. Make this faired design a full on registered motorcycle like a Brammo and give us sneaky types something stealthier.

( April 26, 2013 )

Bike sporter

( April 26, 2013 )

How long time do the batteries in the Hanebrink Hustler need to charge? I was looking after this information but I didn’t find it anywhere. I also tried checking Hanebrink’s webside but there’s no access, “404 error” appeared. The only thing I found here is the range that can exceed 200 miles (322 kilometres).

Bike sporter

( April 26, 2013 )

I would recommend Hanebrink to use the alternative you named here because I don’t know any battery that gets fully charged faster than 2 hours and not just Twikes get charged that fast, Zero Motorcycles’ too. Maybe I’ll not think about the TWIKE but think more about the Hanebrink Hustler instead. There are some differences between a TWIKE and the Hanebrink and I also have reasons to prefer the Hanebrink. Because of smaller sizes it’s easier to overtake a cyclist and always legal, if you drive a car you can sometimes get unlucky and the overtaking of the cyclist may be illegal, one example of these situations is when there is oncoming traffic. The Hanebrink is cheaper, faster and more aerodynamic than a TWIKE. This is also the only motorbike that is sportive too if there are no more motorbikes like this one.

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Christopher Etim

( May 24, 2015 )

zbikenut

( January 17, 2017 )

Many many years ago Mr Hannebrink had a Fat bike at the Bike Show. Way before anybody was making them. I rode it way back then and was surprized how easy it rode for having those Huge tires—I think they were about 5 inch back then.